The invention relates high-power roller bearings. In particular, the invention relates to roller bearings for use in main shaft bearing systems in high-speed gas turbines, transmissions and, for example, for rotor bearings in helicopters.
In such applications, operating temperatures far above 200° C. can easily occur in the contact region between the roller bodies and the bearing rings owing to the very high operating speeds with extremely high loads. The heat which is produced at high rotational speeds due to friction has to be conducted away reliably and promptly in order to avoid damage to the bearings. For this reason, in the past relatively high flow rates of oil were necessary to cool the bearings, and only a very small proportion of said flow rates were required to lubricate the bearings. The overwhelming portion of the quantity of oil serves to conduct away heat.
In many applications, for example in aeronautics, extremely high demands are placed on operational safety and reliability. For this reason, the assemblies which are required for the throughflow of oil, for example pumps, cooling assemblies and safety systems, generally have to be of redundant design and configured to be highly reliable. This affects both manufacturing and maintenance costs and the weight of the systems equipped in this way.